A high-ranking commander of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUS) says Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi’s confirmation of the Israeli regime’s responsibility for a string of attacks on positions of the Iraqi pro-government forces makes retaliation legitimate. RNA - Abu Ala al-Walai, Commander of the Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (the Master of Martyrs Battalions) group, which operates under the command of the voluntary forces – better known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi, wrote on his Twitter page on Tuesday that the Iraqi premier’s comments were “a green light to retaliate against Israel.”
Abdul-Mahdi said in an interview with the Doha-based Arabic-language al-Jazeera television news network on Monday, “Investigations into the targeting of some Popular Mobilization Forces positions indicate that Israel carried it out.”
The premier added that “many indicators show that no one wants war in the region except for Israel.”
‘Iraq must sue Israel at intl. tribunals’
Meanwhile, the Second-in-Command of the Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Ahmed al-Maksousi, told London-based and pan-Arab media outlet al-Araby al-Jadeed on Tuesday that they were “aware for more than a month that the report compiled by the commission of inquiry on the bombing of the PMU positions proved the Zionist regime's involvement, especially since Americans told Abdel-Mahdi that Israel was behind these strikes.”
Maksousi then called on the Iraqi government and parliament to “explore diplomatic channels and submit complaints to the Security Council, the United Nations and even international tribunals about the bombings. Different Iraqi factions are going to hold a meeting in the capital Baghdad within the next two days.”
He went on to say that “all options are on the table, especially since we reserve the right to respond, and the Zionist entity is not away from our fire range.”
Moreover, Second-in-Command of the Saraya al-Khorasani group, Hamid al-Jazairi, said they “had detailed information (about the airstrikes) prior to Abdul-Mahdi’s announcement. The axis of resistance is not confined within Iraqi borders, but also operates in Syria and Lebanon. Therefore, the response to Israel does not have to be from the Iraqi territory.”
Jazairi stressed that “there will be a response very soon to the Israeli bombings by resistance factions. It will be an appropriate response, and will be announced in a timely manner.”
Iraq's military said on August 26 that it had launched an investigation into a purported Israeli strike that killed two Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters near the town of al-Qa’im close to the country's western border with Syria.
Sayf al-Badr, the spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry, said in a statement that at least one person was killed and 29 others were wounded in a powerful explosion that rocked a military base in southern Baghdad on August 12.
An ammunition warehouse reportedly exploded inside a federal police military base, named Falcon, in Owerij area near the southern district of Doura.
Al-Ahad television network reported on July 19 that a drone had dropped explosives onto a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Units near the town of Amerli in the early hours of the day, killing at least one PMU fighter and injuring four others.
Additionally, the Iraqi al-Etejah television network reported that an American B350 reconnaissance plane had flown over the area a few days earlier.
The Israeli regime has also a record of attacking the forces fighting Daesh terrorists in Syria.
Both the Syrian government and Hashd al-Sha’abi declared back then that the attack near the Iraqi-Syrian border had been deliberate and could only have been carried out by either Israel or the United States.
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